Strayer Buys Jack Welch’s Online MBA School for $7 Million

Last week, we spoke with Jack Welch for a Q & A about his executive MBA online program. Turns out Welch was working on a deal to move his program from Cleveland to Virginia. Of course, online students won’t care where the snail-mail address is.

The purchase price is about $7 million, with Welch contributing about 30 percent, Strayer chief financial officer Mark Brown said in an interview.

“We had been exploring on our own the opportunity to offer an executive MBA program when we were contacted by Welch about potentially acquiring JWMI and offering the MBA program through that vehicle,” Brown said. Strayer already offers a traditional MBA program.

JWMI’s tuition is about $30,060, and Strayer’s MBA is priced at $26,715.

We emailed Jack Welch about the rationale for this deal. Here is what he wrote back:

“With Strayer’s 90+ campuses, 55,000 students and an over-a-hundred year history, JMWI will now have a larger and stronger home,” he wrote. “We are pleased with the growth so far, but the reach, resources and educational infrastructure of Strayer should accelerate this growth.”

We also asked if he and Suzy are increasing their stake in the school or not.

“I increased my stake from 15% to 30%,” he wrote. “To the best of my knowledge, I am the only partner cashing out. The rest of the money is going to support Chancellor.” That doesn’t tell us everything about the mechanics of the deal. But it does indicate Jack will remain involved with this school other than in name only.

He clarifies that he received cash for his 15% in JWMI. He added to that at the deal close to boost his stake to 30%. “I will be deeply involved going forward,” he wrote, in an email to WiredAcademic.

“At roughly 0.4 percent of Strayer’s enrollment, JWMI is a relatively small transaction, but a high profile one nonetheless, and a good complement to Strayer’s business focus,” BMO Capital Markets analyst Jeff Silber wrote in a client note. – Comment from Reuters Story

Thoughts: The move is perhaps a good one for JMWI as Strayer is already in the business education space and Chancellor did not offer the same kind of larger platform Strayer has in business education. Meanwhile, we would like to know if Jack & Suzy Welch maintain or increase their ownership in the school in this deal.